Google Rains on Microsoft's Office 365 Cloud Launch

The Google Apps team took on Office 365 the day before Microsoft had its big cloud launch.

In a Monday blog post, Google offered "365 reasons to consider Google Apps" (instead of Office 365). The provocative post might be considered part of a time-honored tech tradition of raining on the competitor's parade. Google's position, which was written by Shan Sinha, a Google Apps product manager, actually boiled down to four points:

"Office 365 is for individuals. Apps is for teams.

"Office 365 is built for Microsoft. Apps is built for choice.

"Office 365 is 11 different plans, three editions and two tiers. Apps is $5/month with no commitment.

"Office 365 is about the desktop. Apps is about the web."

For the remaining 361 reasons, Google has put out a couple of Twitter requests for ammunition from its partner and customer communities and the suggestions have been rolling in. In the meantime, the blog entry offers a fairly useful comparison chart of Google Apps against the five main flavors of Office 365.

Google's main points aren't unfair, but it may be tough to compare some of Microsoft's Office 365 strengths as weaknesses. For instance, Office 365 offers flexibility and acknowledges users' online/offline realities. Office 365 also enables integration with the predominant-installed desktop productivity suite.